5. Background

In response to the
EHRC's Is
Scotland Fairer report
[1] which called for improvement to the equality evidence base,
the Fairer Scotland Action Plan
[2] committed the Scottish Government to publishing an Equality
Evidence Strategy based on consultation with equality groups and
other stakeholders, setting out how it is going to improve equality
evidence and analysis in Scotland.

Other Scottish Government strategies, such as the Race Equality
Framework
[3] and A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People
[4], also outline actions for improved data.

In addition, Scotland's draft Budget has been accompanied by an
Equality Budget Statement
[5] (
EBS) since
2009. Equality assessment throughout the budget process helps the
Scottish Government to arrive at informed decisions and to make the
best judgements about how to target government resources. The
EBS ensures
that, as far as possible, the equality impacts of the spending
decisions set out are understood. In order to continuously improve
the
EBS and
develop high quality assessment there is a continuing need to
improve the equality evidence base.